Alexa Wilding - Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Archival giclée
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Description
A delicate chalk and crayon portrait of Alexa Wilding, a primary model for the Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
This portrait study depicts Alexa Wilding, one of the most frequent models for Dante Gabriel Rossetti during the latter half of his career. Rossetti first encountered Wilding in the street in 1865 and was immediately struck by her appearance. She became a primary subject for his work, appearing in numerous oil paintings and drawings throughout the 1860s and 1870s. Unlike some of his other models, Wilding was a professional who sat for him exclusively for several years.
The drawing demonstrates Rossetti's mastery of chalk and crayon. He employs a soft, blended technique to capture the texture of Wilding's hair and the subtle contours of her face. The composition focuses on the sitter's upper torso and head, with her hands positioned near her chest. Her expression is contemplative, a common feature in Rossetti's depictions of women from this period. The artist uses a warm, earthy palette, relying on shades of terracotta, ochre, and brown to define the form against a neutral background.
Rossetti was a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group that sought to return to the detail and intense colours of Italian art before Raphael. While this work is a later example, it retains the focus on idealised beauty and romanticised subjects that defined the movement. The drawing reflects the artist's interest in the physical presence of his models, often elevating them to symbolic or literary figures. This specific study provides insight into his working process, showing the care taken in rendering the delicate features and the fall of light across the sitter's skin. It remains a clear example of the portraiture style that dominated his studio during his mature years in London.
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Because every print is made to order, we don't offer change-of-mind returns, refunds or exchanges. If your order arrives faulty, damaged or incorrect, we'll replace it free of charge — just contact us within 48 hours of delivery. See our refunds page for full details.
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Manufacturing
Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
Care and materials
Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
- Framed prints arrive ready to hang
Care & Cleaning
To keep your artwork looking its best:
- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
- Avoid prolonged direct sunlight
- Never use liquid cleaners on the print or canvas surface
- Keep in a dry, room-temperature space
- Handle prints with clean, dry hands
Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Alexa Wilding - Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Artist Biography
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
He was born in London to an Italian political exile and named after the author of the Divine Comedy. His father was a professor of Italian at King's College. The household ran on poetry, politics, and argument. Rossetti wrote verse throughout his life and considered himself a poet as much as a painter.
His early paintings are small, bright, and meticulously detailed in the Pre-Raphaelite manner. The Girlhood of Mary Virgin and Ecce Ancilla Domini have the flat, jewelled quality of medieval altarpieces. After 1860 the style changed. The paintings became larger, more sensual, and dominated by the face and figure of Jane Burden, who was William Morris's wife.
The relationship between Rossetti, Morris, and Jane is one of the more uncomfortable triangles in art history. Morris married her. Rossetti painted her obsessively. She modelled for Proserpine, La Pia de' Tolomei, and dozens of other works in which she appears as a mythological woman trapped in an unwanted situation. Whether the affair was physical remains debated. Morris, characteristically, said nothing publicly and channelled his feelings into wallpaper.
Rossetti buried a manuscript of his poems in his wife Lizzie Siddal's coffin when she died of a laudanum overdose in 1862. Seven years later he had the coffin exhumed to retrieve them. He published the poems. He was addicted to chloral hydrate by then and increasingly paranoid. He died in 1882, at fifty-three.
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